Summer Reading Rocks!

I’ve tried all summer to pull away from the lure of the screen: lap top, desk top, and iPhone. Instead, I spent July teaching horseback riding, taking kids on creek hikes, picking berries, singing and more as a camp counselor at Eagle’s Nest Camp (a camp that I went to as a child and counseled at during my 20’s). June and August were dedicated to my client MaineShare as I helped them coordinate the MaineShare Fair an event that will take place next week (September 9th) in Portland, Maine.

I’ve spent a fair bit of time out on the Androscoggin River rowing and coaching others. Eagles, herons and leaping fish were a gift as I glided over some amazingly smooth water. I slipped my middle grade work in progress into sunny summer slivers of time thinking deeply and working on a revision that amplifies desire, conflict and tension.

Even with all this incredible activity I made time to read. I embraced audio books with the amazing FREE audio book summer reading program at SYNC. These books filled the time on the long drive from Maine to North Carolina and back. And without Facebook, I had plenty of time to sink into a book at night. At the beginning of the year, I’d challenged myself to read 26 books thinking that one every other week would be great, but I’ve already exceeded that goal. Now I’ve increased that goal to 40 (but really I’m hoping for 52).

I have a number of adult and poetry books on my list for fall but I’m super excited about Melanie Crowder’s next (her 3rd) novel A Nearer Moon that launches next week, and Meg Wiviott’s debut novel Paper Hearts that launches TODAY!

      

Congrats to Meg and Melanie!

Now on with my summer reading list! (Books are listed in the order I read them starting in June.)

MONSTER, Walter Dean Myers (audio book). This is an amazing full cast presentation with an extra from the author explaining his research process and his interviews with numerous incarcerated young men. Highly recommended.

BUDDHA BOY, Kathe Koja (audio book). Bullying and acceptance.

MATERIAL GIRLS, Elaine Dimopoulos (eGalley from Net Galley). More on this in a later post. Highly recommended.

CIRCUS MIRANDUS, Cassie Beasley. Gentle, loving, and magical to its core, this book is the one you want to read aloud to your students this school year. It will draw your too-big-for-read-aloud-books back to your embrace. (Evidence: my 6 foot 2 inch high school sophomore beside me nightly.) Highly recommended.

THE ADVENTURES OF BEEKLE: THE UNIMAGINARY FRIEND, Dan Santat. Caldecott winner 2015.

EL DEAFO, Cece Bell. Newbery Honor. I was especially interested in this because my major was ASL in college. I wanted to see how Bell handled the Deaf community. The book is about the main character’s struggles to fit in with her Hearing family and mainstream life even though her mother is eager to have her learn ASL. By the end of the book, her interest is piqued and I got the feeling that had the book gone on the girl may have explored the Deaf Community more. There is an excellent author’s note about the spectrum of culture and language in the Deaf Community. Highly recommended.

BROWN GIRL DREAMING, Jacqueline Woodson. What can I say about this memoir in verse that hasn’t already been said? The book won the National Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Award, Newbery Honor, an NAACP Image Award, and is featured on many many lists. Highly recommended.

CROWS & CARDS, Joseph Helgerson (audio book). A fun recording that harkens back to pre-Civil War days, river boat scoundrels, and Mark Twain language and humor.

THE CROSSOVER, Alexander Kwame. Newbery Winner 2015.

THE SKIN I’M IN, Sharon Flake. I picked this middle grade up at a library book sale and so glad I did. First pubbed in 1998, if you loved JUMPED by Rita Williams-Garcia you’ll be engaged by Maleeka’s struggle to love herself. Highly Recommended.

STORY OF A GIRL, Sara Zarr. A quiet YA novel that digs deeply into self acceptance, family and forgiveness.

Maine Writers & Publishers Hosts Comma Carnage at SPACE GALLERY

Photo from Instagram user WORD PORTLAND.

Last night, grammar-loving writers,  their loyal lovers, and the curious gathered together at Space Gallery in Downtown Portland to watch an Oxford style debate on what else–the Oxford Comma. One hundred people packed the room, wine flowed, and fingers flew tweeting the goings on.

The motion at hand, “The Oxford comma is unnecessary and irrelevant.” Yes, it was one of those motions (not unlike State of Maine ballot initiatives) that makes one wonder which side they’re on. If you were for the comma you were against the motion and vice-versa.

The best part was certainly the packed house, the rowdy audience, and the spirited discussion. Arguing in favor of the Oxford comma was MWPA assistant director Stephen Abbott. Taking a stance against the Oxford comma was author and Sherman’s Books bookseller Josh Christie. Our forefathers were duly represented, as were poets, and let us not forget the children. To parse or not to parse that was the question. The graphic necessity of the punctuation was represented: Box, box, and box.

Each of us let our beginning positions be known and we voted again at the end to see which debater had persuaded the most audience members. The tally was suspect at best and the Oxford comma won the day!

For the full Storify story see the tweets, and Instagram photos here.  

[View the story “Comma Carnage at SPACE Gallery Last Night” on Storify]

#ireadYA Week Booklists, Badges and More!

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Click here to get your own badge (lots of pretty colors!) for all your social media #ireadYA love!

As a writer, I read widely: poetry, adult, children’s, nonfiction, memoir and despite the opinion of Slate’s, Ruth Graham (2014), I am not embarrassed to read (or write) YA. I often find the plotting more streamlined, the description more economical, the character development and their desire line more transparent and intense, the endings not happy but hopeful, and none of that is easy to do. I promise (she said glancing at the stack of revision notes beside her.) In fact, I recently read a review of an adult book that said, “if you can stick it out until chapter 13, things really get moving.” I’m still going to read that adult book because I’m interested in the topic and the writing but really? Chapter 13?

Here are some of my most recent favorite YA reads from my Goodreads list.
Audacity, Melanie Crowder
Fly on the Wall, E. Lockhart
How It Went Down, Kekla Magoon
I’ll Give You The Sun, Jandy Nelson
Out of the Easy, Ruta Sepetys
and I’m currently reading This Song Will Save Your Life, Leila Sales.

Here’s a great list from Book Riot that you might want to take a look at:
30 Diverse YA Titles To Get on Your Radar 

And the Spring 2015 Kids’ Indie Next List

Whatever you read, enjoy it.

This beautiful image used with permission, can be purchased from Abbie Smith on her Etsy Site: AbbieImagine. Click the image to see her many Typography Posters.

How to Support an Author Beyond Buying Their Book | Pub(lishing) Crawl

How to Support an Author Beyond Buying Their Book | Pub(lishing) Crawl.

This is a great article by Erin Bowman over at Pub(lishing) Crawl. Congrats to Erin on the publication of the last book in her Taken triology. Launch day is short but hopefully a book’s life is long. Erin writes about great ideas for friends, family, and fans to help an author publicize their book.

HotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Charles Ghigna and Lee Bennett Hopkins

I love this tender and expressive poem by Mr. Ghigna and hope you do too. Thanks as always to the amazing blogger Jama Rattigan at Jama’s Alphabet Soup! Happy #PoetryMonth.

jama's avatarJama's Alphabet Soup

Double your oven mitts, double your fun! (A natty flame-proof suit wouldn’t hurt either.)

Charles Ghigna (“Father Goose”) is an award winning poet, author, speaker and nationally syndicated feature writer.

Tea time in his Alabama tree-house (photos by Debra Ghigna).

☕ Cuppa of Choice: “I love tea! I drink a cup of hot green tea nearly every day. One of my favorites is Uncle Lee’s 100% Organic Green Tea. I brew two tea bags in a cup of hot water and sometimes add a squeeze of lemon. I also love to play Tea Party on the porch with our four-year-old granddaughter, Charlotte Rose. She always makes sure I hold up my pinkie just right.” 😉

☕ Hot Off the Press:Springtime Weather Wonders Series (Hail to Spring!, Raindrops Fall All Around, Sunshine Brightens Springtime, A Windy Day in Spring (Picture Window Books, 2015).

☕ Visit Charles Ghigna’s Official Website

☕ ☕ ☕…

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